Helping the homeless is Mary Downer’s mission

By Barbara Sherman
The Regal Courier
February 2010

Photo by Barbara Sherman

In the spirit of paying it forward, Mary Downer spends her weekends visiting with the homeless and handing out socks, hats and mittens.

Homeless people have a friend in Mary Downer, who works by day as a dental assistant at Apple Tree Dentistry in King City and on weekends as a one-person rolling soup kitchen under bridges in Portland.

She can be found most weekends on the streets of downtown Portland, handing out hot beverages to homeless people to brighten their day and to let them know that someone cares about them.

This is a rather unusual way for a young person to spend her days off, but Downer, who graduated from high school in 2003, is on a mission to make a difference in people’s lives.
Downer, a Tigard resident, has been the beneficiary of other people’s goodwill when she needed it, and she wants to return the favor. She started cleaning the office of Dr. Toivo Sepp in 2002 while still in high school and started working in his Apple Tree Dentistry office two days after she graduated.

She got her state certificate to be a dental assistant in 2005, and two years after that, a life-changing event happened to her.

Downer was in the Tualatin Fred Meyer parking lot and noticed an elderly woman sitting in a car, but her purse and keys were on the pavement outside the vehicle.

“It was two weeks before Christmas, and people were walking by and not paying any attention,” Downer said. “My antenna went up. I knocked on the door and handed her the purse and keys and asked if she was OK.”

When the woman replied in the affirmative, Downer went into the store and told an employee about it. She learned later that the employee had done nothing about it, and when Downer went back outside, she got into the car with the woman.

“I had her try to put her gloves on, and she couldn’t,” Downer said. “She didn’t know her name.”
Downer got the woman’s cell phone and called the last number on it, which turned out to be the woman’s son.

An ambulance was called to take the woman to a hospital, and her granddaughters came and took charge of her belongings. The 86-year-old woman had had multiple strokes.

When Downer called the hospital the next day to check on the woman; her family was with her and passed the phone around so they could all thank the Good Samaritan.

After the woman recovered, she took Downer out to lunch and gave her a $500 Fred Meyer gift certificate.

Instead of thinking how she could spend it on herself, Downer immediately thought of how many people she could help with that money.

“I was excited,” she said. “I knew I could buy things I needed to help the homeless. I went to the store and bought two carafes, packages of hot chocolate and Cup Noodles, Styrofoam cups, socks, hats and gloves.”

Downer said that she did it because she feels an affinity with the homeless.

“They’re someone’s child,” she said. “They’re not all there because they did something wrong.”

Packing a rolling suitcase with the carafes filled with hot water and packets of chocolate and soup, Downer hit the streets to hand out hot drinks and offer some cheer to the homeless people she encountered.

“I’ve never had a problem relating to the homeless,” she said. “I counsel with them. They just need someone to listen. No matter why they’re down there, they’re all human beings. I walk around Pioneer Square and under the Hawthorne Bridge—that’s a pretty good hot spot—and the Burnside Bridge.”

Downer said that she doesn’t get into dangerous situations.

“I’m smart and safe about it,” she said. “I don’t go down dark alleys. I text a friend where I’m going. I don’t bring a wallet—just ID. I never go after dark. Just because I’m doing something good doesn’t mean I’m invincible.”

Downer heads downtown one or both days of the weekends, noting Nov. 12, “Last Saturday was very wet and cold, but I had a home to go back to and they didn’t. That’s why I’m starting to collect socks. Even the people who get into shelters at night need warm, dry socks.

“How do you get a job when you’re wearing dirty clothes? A friend gave me some men’s sweaters, and I passed them out. I remember seeing one man wearing socks and sandals, and they were soaking wet.”

Downer went through her $500 windfall a long time ago, and now she spends part of her salary on food and clothing for the homeless. A friend with a Costco card takes her shopping there, where she recently spent $40 stocking up on items.

On Thanksgiving a year ago, Downer gave away blankets along with 100 muffins that she made.

“So many of these people have lost hope,” she said. “If you’ve had hot chocolate in your past, you were probably a kid and cozy after playing in the snow. Sipping hot chocolate was a happy moment in your life.

“During the 10 minutes that they’re sipping hot chocolate, they’re drinking it in a happy place.”
Downer said that when people ask her why she does this, she tells them the story of the woman she helped

“I say, ‘Because I care about you. You’re human. You’re important.’ Some people are at first hesitant to take hot chocolate or soup from me, so I look them in the eye and say, ‘What’s your name?’ They answer and stand up taller. I feel respect from them.

“Sometimes I have 10 or 15 people waiting for me to hand them a cup. I will give them jobs, like stirring the powder in the water. One time on Christmas morning, I asked, ‘Who has a good joke?’”

Downer not only keeps herself safe, but she doesn’t take any guff from people.

“I don’t put up with anything,” she said. “I’ve had to tell people I won’t come back. It’s funny—a young girl standing up to these old men. Most are kind and courteous and grateful. Life has handed them a bucket of lemons.”

People help Downer’s mission by dropping off small items like socks, hats and gloves at Dr. Sepp’s office, and she distributes them to needy people.

“I put the socks in zip-lock bags,” she said. “I tell the people when they get to the shelter to hang the wet socks they wore during the day on something to dry overnight and put the dry ones on to sleep in. I know it makes a difference.”

Downer sees people with mental illness and other serious issues that she can’t resolve for them and admits, “Some of it is very heartbreaking, but the outcome is worth it. Even if you can’t help someone, you can offer a helping hand. We can encourage each other, and it will make the world turn better.”

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Mary Downer can be reached at blissfull23@hotmail.com or at Appletree Dentistry, 16035 SW Pacific Hwy, Tigard, OR, 503-620-2185.

This article originally published November 25, 2009 in The Regal Courier as “Helping the homeless is her mission.” We thank The Regal Courier for their permission to reprint this article.